This invention relates to a connector that establishes a connection to a connection object using its openable and closable cover.
With the recent miniaturization and multifunctionality of portable electronic devices, there have been required miniaturization of electronic components and an increase in the number and speed of signal lines. These requirements can be satisfied using optical fibers or the like, which, however, naturally requires conversion from optical signals to electrical signals.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H05-335617 discloses an optical transmission module that converts an optical signal to an electrical signal. Generally, this type of optical transmission module is too large in size to be mounted in a portable device as a connector. Further, since it has pin-shaped terminals, it is necessary to form contact holes in a board. There is also a problem in terms of ensuring shielding.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2000-82826 discloses an optical transmission socket module. Since this optical transmission socket module also has pin-shaped terminals, it is necessary to form contact holes in a board. Since this causes a limitation in board wiring, there arises an inconvenience in terms of design particularly in a miniaturized portable device. Further, even if a connector can be disposed on a board, there still arises a problem that the height increases. In addition, if an optical transmission socket module is miniaturized, it is difficult to attach and detach the optical transmission socket module to and from a board because handling thereof is complicated. Further, there is also a problem that it is difficult to achieve sufficient shielding.